Hate Story 4 movie review

: Neither a thriller, nor an erotica, there is a lot to hate in this chapter of the franchise
Back in 2005, my entire school was talking about Aashiq Banaya Aapne. Of course, it was impossible for anyone of us to actually watch the scenes and songs on the big screen, given our age at the time. Imagine the wait of 13 years to watch the title track on the big screen as it has been reprised for the latest release Hate Story 4. Yep! They made a fourth one. Has the sensuality quotient increased in anyway in the past one decade? Here is how the movie went.

What’s it about
Aaryan (Vivan Bhatena) and his colleague/lover, Rishma (Ihana Dhillon), are looking for a fresh face to headline their brand, as a model. We are never told what it exactly is. The responsibility of headhunting is given to Aaryan’s philandering brother, Rajveer (Karan Wahi). He picks Taasha (Urvashi Rautela) for the job solely with the intention of sleeping with her. But Taasha has her own ulterior motives with the bros. Rajveer genuinely falls in love with Taasha, of course, and Aaryan also begins lusting over her.

What’s hot?
We have to give it to Vishal Pandya for writing such strong female characters constantly. His previous films, Hate Story 2 and Wajah Tum Ho flaunted two of the most fierce, badass female characters. Even Hate Story 3, though negative, had strong female representatives. Hate Story 4 follows suit. When mainstream Bollywood movies are shying away from giving women their long due credit, Vishal Pandya’s films are providing some fearsome and motivated female characters who don’t even back down from getting into a literal fist fight with men. Hate Story 4 gives Urvashi Rautela ample moments to shine, give vicious smiles and sashay around. Another predictable highlight, like previous films of Vishal, is the charismatic music. The songs are good in Hate Story 4 as well. The four main leads look good on screen. Vivaan Bhatena fans are in for a treat!

What’s not?
Where do I even begin! I would complain about bad acting, had the actors been given any credible scenes to begin with. Badly written scenes will of course be acted out badly. The twist of the movie is right out of Vishal Pandya’s previous release, Wajah Tum Ho. May be because nobody saw that one, the director thought it would be okay to recycle it. The least ambitious writing I have seen in the longest time. The story depends incredibly on convenient co-incidences and characters being erratically stupid. The plot could have been put to rest by a simple background check of the characters. Characters change their characteristics at the drop of the hat. There is literally no build up for Karan to fall in love with Urvashi. Just moments ago he confesses his love to her, he was trying to roofie and rape her and let out his plans to his brother. A simple word of advice made him change his heart? I can go on and on about the badly etched characters. While Vishal gives us strong female characters, he forgets to give these characters a logically sound script.

Milap Zaveri has written jarring dialogues for the film that could only find place in the B-grade movies back in the days. Imagine, “Tumhare Bhai ki pant ki zip pe lagam rakhne ke liye kaha tha. Iska matlab ye nahi apne pajame ka nada dheela kar do.” Or take this one, “Ram banke lakshman ko sab batane ki zarurat nahi hai. Uske andar ka Raavan jag gaya to apni bewakoofi se hamari Lanka jala dega”. Or “Bedroom me kiye hue wadon ki ahmiyat boardroom me nahi hoti”. Or “Asmaan pe bithane wale pehle bistar pe litane wale the.” Dialogues like these could only generate whistles from the first three rows in a theater. Only if I was watching this film with a bunch of my college buddies when our only motive was to kill time till the lab practical period ended…

There aren’t enough erotic scenes to even give credit there. The movie dares to call itself an erotic thriller when the makers are going to shy away from going all out. If you are in for the scenes, you are going to be disappointed. Unless, it’s for the two songs placed out of strategy to try and pass it as an erotic, which is so 2005! We have seen all of this in movies like Murder, Aashiq Banaya Aapne, Jism and what not. Bollywood films have not dared to go beyond two songs to call themselves an erotic thriller. The reuse of Aashiq Banaya Aapne has been wasted! Just like the actors in this movie.

Urvashi Rautela really needs to stop dressing up like a vamp from the ’80s – you know those Rita, Mona types! Big danglers, velvety blingy clothes and make up are not the in-thing anymore. She is a beautiful actress but hides behind OTT dressing. In fact, she looks incredibly beautiful in the flashback scenes where she appears with minimal make up and simple clothes.

What to do
Don’t give the makers any more reasons to make another erotic thriller! Skip it.